Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today. I had a good day on campus and a guy, Reese I had gone through the Gospel with on September 20 prayed with me to receive Christ who formerly and identified as a Muslim. So I guess God had me harvest the seed He had me plant a couple days ago. Efrain, a kind of “Where’s Waldo” looking guy, Latino, very reserved heard the Gospel and said, “I would seek to be forgiven if it were possible”. He had real joy after I went through the prayer with him saying he would pray later. He was in the science building and thinking me ran off to take a test.

Reese wanted to talk after I walked up to him to say hi. He was in blue sweats and a navy blue hoodie. He has long dreadlocks past his shoulders, a beard, looked like he’d walked out of Woodstock music festival from the neck up, granted no one there wore cotton sweats. He was sitting in the lounge just east of where we have Bible study near the entrance. When I had talked with him before (September 20) and gone through the Gospel with him he seemed open to the Gospel and I gave him the Student Edition of The Case for Christ when we parted. When I’d asked him what he would say to God if he’d died and was asked why He should let him into Heaven we’d lasted talked in the cafeteria. Then he said, “Well my understanding about Heaven is it’s an almighty place God allows people in who prove it to him. I feel like I try to prove to Him I am worthy of His time.” When I sat with him today he asked me if I thought we all had a purpose for being here, using the analogy of both of our being at school for different reasons. I think he was thinking still of earning God’s favor. I explained to him that God had a good purpose in the world for those who had partnered with Him. I quoted Romans 8:28 to him again as I had before “All things work together for good for them that Love God and are the called according to His purpose. I said God’s call goes out but not all respond. I said the first thing had to be first for God to work through us. Saying, “You can’t run out on the field without cleats on,” and he agreed. I explained Christ’s righteousness again which he needed to trust in not his own goodness. I told him how God had given everyone a measure of faith, using Romans 1 and the parable of the talents. But if you bury that faith and do not seek God from there, God will not have mercy on you. God called the servant who had done so evil and lazy. God says you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart. I pulled out a booklet again and wrote down verses as I had done for him before. I asked him did he believe Jesus was God he died for his sins and rose from the dead? He hesitated for a second like he would vacillate but then just didn’t and said, “Yes, I believe in Jesus.” So I said if he’d wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray, placing his trust in that to be forgiven. Then God would live inside him and give him all the strength he needed to live the Christian life. I talked him through it and asked if it was the desire of his heart and he said it was. So I said he could pray it right now and know he would be forgiven. He took the booklet then and prayed to receive Christ. He was happy about it. I gave him Strobel’s book The Case for Christianity Answer Book and I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” inside. I gave him my contact information if he had any questions. He had a Bible. He said his mom was a Christian and his family was both Muslim and Christian but they all got along. I gave him the book Bible Promises for You for his mom. I told him I would be praying for him through next spring and for one year after each night. He thanked me and I said if I did not see him soon I would see him in Heaven. I bumped into him later in the day walking out the door and he was happy still.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with all good things. I had a good day on campus and Clinton, and Tavian each prayed with me to receive Christ.

Clinton was sitting under the stairs at the opposite side of the foyer from the entrance to the Bookstore. He was wearing a colorful bandana headband his afro rough cut out the top. He had a beard on his jaw line heavier on his chin, mustache and a bit wider nose; he really looked a lot like Jimi Hendrix the guitarist from the 60’s. He had blue cotton sweats and wore a jacket with leather sleeves like a letterman jacket and t-shirt. He was a friendly guy from a Christian family. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” he said, “Because I always did my best to be a good person. I’m a religious person. My parents raised me that my. Good morality-compass.” He thought he had a 75% chance of going to Heaven. We talked a bit about how bad things have gotten in the world and then I began to go through the Gospel with him. He knew God had offered Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins. He listened to the gospel and how the blood of Christ had cleansed him and the righteousness of God was imputed to him. I told him “You don’t go to Heaven because you are good but because Jesus is good and you are connected to Him. Like if you marry a millionaire you got a million bucks, if you get adopted into a Billionaire’s family you get to live in the mansion and drive the cars. So God adopts us into His family and gives us the blessings of His family. He gives you the sacrifice for your sins, the blood that cleanses you and the Righteousness of God that surrounds you. So it’s like you got someplace to go, Heaven, and something to wear when you get there, the Righteousness of God.” I told him he had to receive Christ, believe that He was God had died for his sins and rise from the dead. “But not that you just know the story but that that’s what you put your trust in so if someone were to say to you, ‘Why should God let you in Heaven?’ you’d say, “‘Cause Jesus died for me.” I asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus or if he thought something else. “Forgiven for my sins.” he said affirmingly. So I asked if when he was asking for forgiveness for his sins was he thinking he’d be forgiven for being religious because his was the kind of person God would forgive or were you thinking “I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me.” I told him I knew he knew the story but had he placed his trust in that to be forgiven. He said he was “hoping things would be alright, I wasn’t just focusing on Jesus and that He died.” So I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and talked him through it saying he could pray it silently and know he was forgiven and asked if he’d want to take a minute and pray and he said, “Yeah.” He took the booklet then and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to him living “Inside Out”. I told him if he was trusting in Jesus’ righteousness to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I told him I would be praying for him. He gave me his email and we talked a bit and then I got up to go he shook my hand and said, “Thanks Bob. I appreciate ya man. This really made my day.” “Yeah cool,” I said. “I got to meet an actual Clinton, like Clint Eastwood.” He laughed and I headed out.

Tavern was sitting against the glass wall in the Science building lounge. He had small cross earrings with diamonds in them in his ears, wore a ball cap turned backwards, pretty dark skin, black skinny jeans, he was slender and wore circular glasses with plastic across the top and metal lower rims. He looked like the black dude that was the computer expert (villain) in the first “Die Hard” movie. Clean shaven, nice skin. He said he didn’t go to Church anymore and as his family seemed to have lost the habit. He said he prayed to God and felt like he had his own kind of relationship with Him. When I asked him what he would say to get into Heaven he said,  “‘Cause I’m a caring person and I like to put others needs before my own needs.” He thought the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. I went through the Gospel with him and it seemed like it was novel. When I asked him if he knew what Jesus had done to take away his sins he said, “Yeah.” But since he didn’t really answer it as a question I just said something like this is how it works. I taught him everything I usually say. I asked him if he’d want to be forgiven or thought something else. “I’d want to be forgiven,” he said. So I said, “Do you believe Jesus was God He died for your sins and rose from the dead, do you think that’s true?” He thought just a slight moment and said, “Yeah.” I said if he’d want to place his trust in that to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray. I talked him through it saying he could pray it silently and God would forgive him. I asked if he’d want to do it and he said, “Sure.” and he prayed to receive Jesus. He didn’t have a Bible so I gave him one and put his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and showed him the “Where to Turn” section and the section in the back with Messianic Passages. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “Just Ask” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. “I explained living by the Spirit saying “God will give you the power to do everything He is asking you to do.” We talked some more about how screwed up the world was and about Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special that had gotten him in trouble with the left. I could only watch the first 10 minutes it was so dark but I listened to a review on it and he burns down a lot of sacred cows. I told him I would pray for him each night. I got up to go and said “Thanks for talking with me.” “Good talking’,” he replied. “Thank you.” “Yeah I’ll see you in Heaven,” I quipped and he gave me a grin and I was off.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus. The best part of the day was David a Roman Catholic guy prayed with me to receive Christ and follow Him. I also had encouraging another Christian Brother and had a long Apologetic conversation with Reese, an African American who identified as a Muslim. I have gone through the Gospel with several Muslims of late.

David was sitting on a bench across from the bank desk. He had on cargo shorts and had just pulled full-ear headphones out of a container box, which then remained around his neck as we talked, his laptop on his lap and phone beside him. He wore a polo shirt and had a mop of curly hair that came down on his forehead in a wad of bangs he occasionally grabbed and pulled up, only for them to return to the place they were in before. His eyes were in a perpetual squint. And he spoke in almost plotting manner his face in a kind of sly dry expression. He had kind of a traditional looking face, thin lips he had light tuffs of beard where sideburns tried to grow. He listened to me and took it all in; it might have been one of the longest conversations I have ever had that ended with someone praying to receive Jesus. The pace of it was like molasses in January. The Spirit was on me providing patience. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I would say, Hmm… Why?,” he asked himself. Then thinking more he said, “I suppose Church every Sunday isn’t enough. I tried to live the best that I could and tried to surround myself with good caring people that pushed me to be better.” He thought he had a 90% chance of going to Heaven though he wanted to say 100 but didn’t want to sound proud I think. He listened to the Gospel and knew Jesus had been the sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. I asked if he would want to be forgiven or thought something else. “I would want to be forgiven,” he replied. So I said if when something went wrong and he asked God for forgiveness was he thinking he had been a good person and went to Church and based on his past record he’d be forgiven or did he think “I believe I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me.” That’s a lot to take in,” He replied. He then spent a while, thinking then processing about how he had gotten more into his faith after CCD (which he admitted had been boring) in a group they had at St Francis called “God Parents” where they talked about life more, it was not related to baptism at all. He had really liked the fellowship of that group of his peers and said he was “nostalgic” about it. He had been the first year at the age of 14 that had done a mission trip, which as he described the trips each year they seemed like relief work, simple good works. He was still going to church but did not have a group to go to. I suggested he was kind of in a desert between fellowship, but he could use this time to come closer to God and ask Him to live inside him and change him. That his other activities could instead of mere nostalgia a building block as he committed his life as an adult to what was really behind what he’d been up to in HS. I said that we do good works to show God our gratitude for what He has done to save us on the cross. He could take the next step with God and become more of an “electron donor” in the next group. I was searching for something like “hit the ground running” but my head didn’t grab that in the moment, it was the end of a long week and I was tapped to be honest. I talked to him about several things in metaphor. I asked if he’d seen Lord of the Rings where Gandalf said, “You shall not pass!” to the demon monster and rode it down. “The Balrog,” he said. “The Balrog,” I said saying I’d forgotten its name. I talked about being in a desert place like Gandalf but emerging as “Gandalf the White” from having been “Gandalf the Grey”. The wizard in the book battles the demon and everyone thinks he died but he came out victorious and even more powerful. He liked the analogy I could tell. I talked to him about the symbolism in the Mass and it commemorating that Jesus had died so he knew he was forgiven. He said his older brother, Sergio, had turned away from the Church and stopped going for the last couple years. He used him as an example of culture and saying was surrounded by anti-faith forces. I talked to him about not living in his own strength but trusting in the power of the Spirit to do good things. There were stretches of silence and I talked him through the prayer where he could ask God to live inside him and take the next step with God and asked if it was the desire of his heart. He said it was and so I said he could pray it silently and God would hear and forgive him. He looked at it then after a bit as I held out the booklet and I could tell he was praying, then he crossed himself and said something in Latin and I took off my hat and said, “Amen.” He was a click brighter then. I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the Date and “forgiven” in the front. I told him, “I will pray for you every night from now until spring and one year after praying one of the prayers of Paul for God to bless you.” He was taken a bit by that and I know that struck him. He was a typical student whose High School youth group had become the main expression of his faith and he’d lost it having gone to college. But I encouraged him he could prepare for the next thing God had for him to do in the next fellowship group by being changed in His power “Inside Out”. I believe the Gospel began to take root and I also said I would pray for his brother Sergio too whom he had had a recent argument with saying he could pray for his brother to see Christ in Him. He thanked me and I headed out saying I was excited for him taking the next step in his faith.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Third Watch Ministries, NFP                                                            Bob & Ellen Bollow

P.O. Box 1283                                                                                   September 27, 2019

Wheaton, IL 60187-1283  

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.” Job 38:4

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you have been enjoying late summer of 2019. It’s now officially fall, but it has been the fall semester for just about a month at campus. God has blessed the work of evangelism and 46 students have prayed with me to receive Jesus this school year so far, with several others committing to Christ but not praying with me in the moments I had with them. So we want to thank you for your prayers and gifts, without which this would simply not have happened. Not that God cannot draw people to Himself by visions and dreams or even in solitary confinement reading the Bible. All these ways I have read of happening in my lifetime. But He graciously uses you and me, and that is a kindness to us.

I thought you might be interested to hear my best recollection of a discussion I recently had on campus with a black guy Reese, who claimed to be a Muslim. He was in a religious studies class that had begun to talk about atheism and so I began to explain to him that science is a description, not an explanation. The analogy I used went something like this. “Say I ask you how your girlfriend broke up with you, and you tell me, ‘She wrote a note that said, I do not want to date you anymore. Then walked over to my house and rang the doorbell. I opened the door to let her in and she stepped inside, kissed me on the cheek and said I’m breaking up with you. She then handed me the note and walked out of my house and my life forever.'” “This,” I said, “though it is a complete explanation of how your girlfriend broke up with you, tells me not one thing about why she broke up with you. You may in fact, for the rest of your life, never discover why she had broken up with you. But you have a complete explanation of how she did it.” He agreed and laughed and seemed to have a girl in mind who had never provided an explanation for their break-up.

Science does this all the time. Many of its descriptions are woefully inadequate, but they get away with them because they seem complicated or they use a scientific world we have grown to accept. Sometimes they just label a force, but not only can they not tell you why the force exists, but they cannot tell you why the force acts upon the world in the manner they describe. Newton came up with the math that describes Gravity, but Newton could not tell us what Gravity was. It is simply the name of a force he discovered existed and had mathematical equations to describe. He believed the reason why Gravity existed was the Old Testament’s creator God. (He did not believe Jesus was God.)

Here is another scientific explanation with no math, just a story-line description: Evolutionary science. Evolution describes that within every life form, cells conspire to survive. They want to survive and so try to become more fit. This is not exactly true, though they say it. For example, a fern has cells that survive, but it is not the fern itself that wishes to survive exactly, from an evolutionary view point. In truth, the fern will not survive because nothing survives. Every life form on the planet dies. But the fern has a desire that it reproduce itself over time, and what it reproduces will survive to reproduce. So in effect, we are told to believe by the scientists that tell us this tale that the fern (and all life forms) are made of small pieces (cells), all the parts of which want their children and grandchildren ferns to have a better shot at survival. This is, of course, silly on several levels if you pause to think about it. First, because we do not really believe ferns have these motivations for their grandchildren or are capable of this foresight. And second, because we do not believe all the intricate parts of any given life form down to a cellular level can mutually conspire.  This is to humanize or anthropomorphize the tiny pieces of every life form and give each of them a will to collectively do things. Not for the organism they are a part of but for a future organism of which they are unaware. BUT let’s take a leap with them and say “OK, all these little bits of us and everything else are driven and conspiring for their future grandchildren to have a better shot at survival.” What force drives them, every little piece of everything, giving them this will? Well this force is blind chance, they say. In horse racing they call this luck. But no one really believes Luck is a thing. We do not believe there is a force out there called Luck, or Chance, that rests on things such that they gain an advantage we then deem desirable. When you say someone is lucky, or a horse is lucky, you mean that there is a force you do not understand and do not define, that landed on them and something you think is desirable happens. So IF an evolutionist says Chance is a force doing things in the world, they are saying there is a force they cannot name, which is acting on all life forms. And one of the things this force they call Chance is doing is driving life forms to make their genes survive long enough (to be fit long enough) to adapt in a way that makes their grandchildren ferns exist and then create another, better fern. So they do not name it and cannot find it. They can only describe it. Even if they were right about their weak description, it is not answering why the fern wishes to do that. (It is not telling you why your girlfriend broke up with you). So the option is left to you, if you wish to name the force something more satisfying or descriptive than Chance. I do not believe that on their own, all the little bits of a fern are conspiring in the manner an evolutionist says. But since they do not say what force wired them that way, made them all want to conspire to survive, I can name the force for them. I can call the force God.  So evolution’s believers are not disallowing for a belief in God. They believe a force has made everything want to have its offspring survive. So they cannot insist the force is not God.

A former Oxford professor points out that if you come over to his house and want some tea, he will put the kettle on to boil on the gas burner. A scientist can tell you that the heat from the gas has made the molecules in the kettle speed up, and that is why it is boiling. But the professor says there is an explanation beyond this description of heat for why the water is boiling in the kettle. It is boiling because you wanted a cup of tea. If the fern did evolve from past ancestors who wanted it to be more fit (and I do not believe it did), that is a description. It lacks the explanation of who wanted it to do that and nothing in the description prohibits the explanation of God. God, in fact, is the only thing that would make the description an explanation. Science is a description, not an explanation. Evolution is arguably neither, it is just a tale scientists tell.

We find many students have an unexamined belief in evolution.  They have been taught evolution is a fundamental truth, but that life, at its inception, was Chance.  Please pray for these students, that they will come to an understanding that God is their Creator, and the Creator of all things.  (We regularly have this discussion in our Tuesday bible study.)

These are the students that have prayed to receive Jesus this year so far:

(An * means they did not pray with me, but said they would pray later.)

Roy, Jamari, CJ, Jaylen, Jordan* Carmen, Ray, Chloe* Marco, Jeff, Daniel* Cole, Chase, Gillam, Isabelle, McPaul, Bryan* Chris, Tyler* Pablo* Bobbi, Enzo, Andrew, Kiya, Michael* Cody, Esabel, Saul, Joe, Kimberly* Ivan, Ethan, Zandrix, Jasmine, Sandra, Monsieur, Jamie, Tionne, Mia, Maria, Rachel, Luciana, Briaunna, Oedrey, Mahala, Goldie*, David, Clinton, Tavian, Reese, Austin, Kevin, Danny, Mya and McKenzie

Please also pray that the Lord will move in the hearts of some of these students to come to bible study.  Right now we have only our faithful few that are returning students from last year.

In Him,

Bob & Ellen

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Hope your day was blessed today walking with Him. I had a good day on campus and Mahala prayed with me to receive Christ and Goldie committed to Christ say she would pray later. She was from South Africa. Black, had her hair straightened and combed down into a bob, wore glasses. She was under conviction so I hope she will pray, she said she went to Cru. She had said she had faith but she realized at the end she had never been trusting in Christ’s work on the cross to be forgiven.

Mahala was sitting in the ground floor lounge on the atrium that has vending machines in it on the south side of the BIC. She was wearing a purple blouse and had yoga pants on that were solid at the thighs and looked like a pair of nylons across the front, they had several holes in the front in either leg , might have been designed that way, there were not runs. She had curly, deep brown hair down past her shoulders and big eyes and wore huge eyelashes; she had a pretty face, pointed chin and wore heavy make-up. She said she had gone to church with friends growing up if there was a sleep over at their house that went over to Sunday and said she loved the church youth groups she went to in High School. She had gone on several mission trips too. She was a really nice person and had a simple heart but was a little unclear on what was true of Christianity. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Well, everybody deserves a chance at happiness and to live peacefully whether in the after-life or your life [now].” She thought she had a 99% chance of going to Heaven. I began to explain the Gospel to her, that Jesus had died for her sins and His blood had cleansed her as a power now in the world, His righteousness was to her credit. She would repeat things I said and I would say them again with more clarity fixing what she’d said that was a bit off. “You explain this more clearly than they do at Church,” she said to me. I thanked her and continued to teach her. At one point she exclaimed, “Love it.” I think when I was explaining how we are saved by faith and though we should do good things to please God our good stuff did not fix our bad stuff but God could turn your bad things into good things quoting Romans 8:28. Then I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins or if she thought something else and she picked the circle with God inside saying she’d want to be forgiven. I said, “It doesn’t seem like you’ve ever really put all this together before to place your trust in it.” She agreed so I said that if she’d like to place her trust in what Jesus had done to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it. “I like that part,” she said (of the line, “Take control of the throne of my life, make me the kind of person you want me to be.”) “That He would take control.” So I said she could pray it silently so only God could hear saying “You know what this is like: God’s like a pretty girl, he likes to be asked.” She agreed that was true and said, “Sure.” And took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. She did not have a Bible so I gave her one and showed her the “Where to Turn” Section. “That would be really helpful,” she said. And I agreed the bible was a big book and some of it is hard to understand without scholarship so it is nice to know where to look for stuff. I said Jesus words were in red and showed her the Messianic passages section. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and “Just Ask”. I told her the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%, trusting in Jesus righteousness and she agreed. I gave her a Bible Promise book too. We talked a bit more and I told her I would be praying for her and getting up to leave I said, “God bless you, it was nice to meet you.” “Nice to meet you too,” she replied shaking my hand, “Thank you, you too.”

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Luciana, Briaunna, Oedrey each prayed with me to receive Jesus today so that was great.

Luciana was sitting in the ground floor hall just down from the student activities lounge leading into the BIC on a bench. She had a pink hoodie on and black Adidas sweats with white stripes up the sides. Slight, pretty girl, square sharp features small with blonde hair tinted half way up from where it fell on her shoulders. She didn’t have much time but said she’d do a student survey. She was friendly. When I asked her what she would say to God if he asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “Because I care about other people more than myself and I make sure to give them my best.” She went to a Catholic Church and thought she had a little more than a 50% chance of going to Heaven. She was affirming and enthusiastic about the Gospel as I went through it with her (it seemed novel to her). When I asked her what Jesus had done to take away her sins she said “Confession, my grandma always makes me go to confession.” Then seeing the page with the Cross on it as I turned it she said, “Oh, He died.” I went on to explain the Gospel and the Blood of Christ and how it was symbolically represented in the Mass so when she took it she should say, “Thank you.” Because it was reaffirming that Jesus had died for her and so she was forgiven. I explained His imputed righteousness saying it was too her credit. When I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins trusting in Jesus so he could live inside her she said very firmly, “Yes!” So I said, “Seems like you hadn’t had a chance to trust in all this to be forgiven?” “Yes,” she replied. So I said there was a prayer she could pray if she wanted to silently and only God would hear and forgive her and live inside her giving her the strength to live the Christian life. I walked her thought it explaining it as I went and asked her if she’d like to pray. “Yes,” she said excited. “Thank you so much, thank you,” she said taking the booklet then holding it before she prayed she said again to me, “Thank you so much for this.” Then she prayed to receive Jesus. I explained living the Christian life “inside out” where everything God was asking her to do He’d give her the power to do. She was late for something then and started to grab her pack and stood up. “Let me just give you a book of Bible Promises,” I said and she waited and I wrote her name quickly in the front and handed it to her. “Thanks you so much she said happily and ran off. She was so grateful and joyful it was infectious and made my day.

Briaunna was sitting up on the third floor and somehow caught my eye through the top of the couches she was sitting on just down and one floor up from where we have Bible study. She was a pretty brown haired girl with her hair up held up by a head band. Looked a little like a Caucasian Selena Gomez. She had on a navy blue nylon long sleeved shirt and navy blue workout pants. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “That’s a hard question. I don’t know, I’d probably say it’s not up to me, it’s up to youth decide. I don’t think I could convince you.” She thought she had a 60% chance of going to Heaven. “Just passing,” I said and she said, “Well a bit over 60.” I asked her if she went to church ever and she said her Grandpa was a pastor in the Pentecostal church. When I asked her what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away her sins she said, “He hung on the cross,” she replied. She listened to the Gospel, the blood that cleansed her and the imputed righteousness of Christ to her credit. As I finished I asked if she’d want to be forgiven for her sins or thought something else. I wasn’t sure what she’d say since she seems to have something of a negative reaction to the strictness of her grandparent’s faith. But she said, “I want to be forgiven.” So I said it seemed like she’d never really put all this together before to trust in it and she agreed. So I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through the prayer line by line saying at the end she could pray it silently and only God would hear. “Out loud?” she said, taking the booklet. I said no, no one else needed to hear it. “Well I read it as you did,” she replied. “Ok, Amen?” “Amen,” she said. “That counts,” I said and I explain the Christian life to her living inside out by the Spirit’s power and gave her a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing by the Spirit’s power in the front and her name and the date and “forgiven”. So I said as I got up to go, “So do you believe Jesus is God, He died for your sins and rose from the dead and do you trust in that to be forgiven?” ‘Yes,” she said. “Then this is 100%,” I said, pointing at the question of the likelihood she would go to Heaven when she died. “Because you’re trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be your righteousness and how righteous is Jesus? 100% righteous,” I said. “And what’s His righteousness worth? An infinite amount. So there’s enough to an old guy like me who’s done a bunch of stuff wrong and someone like you that hasn’t even done hardly anything wrong yet.” I told her I would be praying for her each night until spring and then one year after, just praying the prayers of Paul to bless her and she really liked that and I headed off.

Later in the day I planned to head up to touch base with our advisor who said far fewer students had asked him about Bible Study groups this year. Before talking with him I found Oedrey sitting on a couch in the hall on the floor beneath his office. He was a Latino guy who split his time between two different churches. He had stick straight hair, pretty short, bangs poking straight out over his forehead and square features tanned skin a narrow face. Thin, in a blue t-shirt and blue jeans. I asked him what he would say to God if He asked why he should let him into heaven and he said, “Aside from my going to church every Sunday and treating people like they are good neighbors of mine, personally I don’t know. I’ve done everything I knew to do to be a good person. I don’t know if I’ve done enough.” He was sure he would go to Heaven though, 100%. I guess thinking if you have tried all you knew to do you get in. When I asked him what Jesus had done to take away his sins he knew He had died for us. He listened closely to the Gospel and was happy to hear it all and when I got to the end I asked if he’d want to be forgiven. “I want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus and what He did on the cross for us.” He said. I asked him if he had been trusting in that to be forgiven and he said, “I want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus.” So I showed him the prayer he could pray talking him through it and I asked if he’d like to pray it silently and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. He was happy. I told him a symbolic view of the Mass. I began to talk him through living the Christian life. He did not have a Bible so I gave him one showing him the “Where to Turn” section and the one on Messianic passages in the back. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I told him Jesus words were in red and he’d never seen that before and thought that was interesting. I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” and “Just Ask” in the front. He was really grateful, “Thank you,” He said. “Thanks for your time,” I replied shaking his hand. “You’re welcome, thank you,” he said again and I headed off.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed me.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope you had a good day today walking with the Lord. It was a beautiful day outside as I walked through it a few times between buildings. No one was willing to talk to me outside that I asked but Maria and Rachel each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Maria was sitting in the hall of the BIC building the southeast side. She wore a t-shirt and jeans and was a bigger person that average, not fat. Her face kind of reminded me of the Mona Lisa, only prettier, when she smiled her teeth barley showed in a half circle opening. She hadn’t been to church for a while but came from a Roman Catholic family. She had a slight accent and looked Latina with long brown hair and a point to her chin. When I asked her what she would say to God if she died and He asked: Why should I let you into Heaven? She said, “Hmm, because I’ve done great things… good things. I’ve also done some bad. I wouldn’t complain if He told me No.” She thought she had an 80% chance of going to Heaven. As I went through the Gospel I asked her if she knew what Jesus had done to take away her sins. “Yes,” she replied as if saying she knew that Jesus had taken away her sins. She listened to the Gospel and my explanation of the imputed righteousness of Christ and his blood to cleanse her. I asked her if she would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus or thought something else, “No forgiven,” she replied. So I suggested she might not have understood all this before to trust in Jesus to be forgiven and she agreed. So I said if she’d like to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and talked her through it asking if it was the desire of her heart and she nodded. I suggested if she’d like to pray silently right then only God would hear and she would know she was forgiven. She gave a small smile at that and a slight laugh and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to her then and the power of the Spirit to live inside her. I explained symbolic view of the Mass saying she could just say thank you in taking it knowing she was forgiven. He did not have her own Bible but did not want to take a book from me of any kind but she did take a Bible study on the deity of Christ. “This is 100%,” I said pointing at the question of the likelihood she would go to Heaven. “Because since you’re trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be your righteousness, how righteous is Jesus? 100% righteous,” I said answering my own question. “And what’s His righteousness worth? An infinite amount…” Yeah that’s pretty cool,” she replied. And I said I’d see her around and headed off.

Rachel was sitting at the counter in the cafeteria and was finished with her lunch so was willing to do a student survey. Her dark brown hair was pulled back and up, she has pretty large eyes that looked Indian and was dark skinned but from other things I’d guess she was Latina. Kind of a round pug nose. She wore grey yoga pants and had light blue v-neck t-shirt on. She went to St Peter’s a Roman Catholic Church. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Because I’m generally a good person. I try to help people out.” She listened to the Gospel, interested, and she knew Jesus had died to take away our sins. She listened to all of the Gospel with interest. So at the end I asked her if she would want to be forgiven by trusting in the work of Jesus so God could live inside her or thought something else. She pointed at the circle with God inside her believing on Jesus. “Well it seems like you hadn’t put all this together before and were just hoping you were good enough to go to Heaven.” She nodded. So I said if she’d like to trust in Jesus there was a prayer she could pray to know she was forgiven and I explained it to her saying she could pray it silently so only God could hear and would she like to do that. “Sure,” she replied. And she prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to her living “inside out” by the Spirit’s power, explained a symbolic view of the Mass and that in trusting in the righteousness of Jesus the likelihood she would go to Heaven is 100%. She did not have a Bible so I gave her one and showed her the “Where to Turn” section and the “Messianic” passages telling her Jesus words were in red. She thanked me. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I also gave her a Bible study on the Deity of Jesus. I told her I would see her in Heaven being old I’d get there first and show her where all the cool places are and she smiled and said, “Sounds good.”

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God blessed today.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you were blessed today walking in the nearness of God which is our good. I had a good day on campus and

Jamie, Mia and Tionne each rayed to receive Jesus Thursday. I was sick all night with a headache and woke up with it, it’s still there so I decided to cancel the painting work I was going to do today and do it tomorrow.

Jamie was sitting in the upstairs PE lounge at the top of the stairs. He’s African American with an oval face and full features, he had a nice smile. Stocky dude and his yellow hoodie was pulled up over his head so I could not see his hair at all. His eyes were narrow with basically no eyelashes He had quilted black jeans on. He said he’d do a student survey and so I asked him what he would say to God if He asked him: Why should I let you into Heaven? “Well I’d say when I was younger I had heart surgery. You gave me a second chanced and stuff. I tried to live the best of my ability. Not saying I deserve it, I just really hope I could get in.” I asked him if he ever went to church after he said he thought he’d have a 70% chance of going to Heaven. “Yeah, my dad owns a church and my grandfather was a pastor, my Uncle’s a Deacon.” I told him the last part of this is what you think of Christianity, it’s just some Bible verses and I began to go through the Gospel with him. He knew Jesus had died to take away our sins. I went through the rest go the Gospel message and asked him if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else. He pointed at the circle that had Christ on the throne of your life. I then said, “It seems like you hadn’t put all this together before so you could trust in it.” and he agreed. I said if he wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray to tell God he was trusting in Christ and I walked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart. He nodded; he was a man of few words. So I said he could pray it silently so only God would hear, “Just pretend I’m not even here.” He had kind of a half chuckle in response that came out like, “Humf”. And he prayed then to receive Jesus. “Your sins are forgiven man!” I said to him then. I hurriedly explained the Christian life to him (Inside Out) as he had to catch a bus and gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and also gave him a Bible Study. I told him if he would not trust in the righteousness of Jesus the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. He got up saying he had 9 minutes to catch his bus smiling and said, “Thank you.” “Yeah,” I said cheerfully and he headed down the stairs and out the door.

I found Mia up on the third floor. She was waiting to go into class sitting on chairs in the hall. She had her curly hair up in a bun and a hair band, wore a red, white and blue zippered sports hoodie with a name and number on the back and blue athletic shorts, flip flops on her feet. Had kind of a soccer player look to her. She had a wider round face with full features, looked Latino, big boned, cute kid. We went really fast I think she knew she had to be in class. When I asked her what she’d say to God to get into Heaven she said, “Cause I wanna be here.” She went to Catholic School growing up and thought she had a 70% chance to get to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her, when I asked her what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away her sins she knew Jesus had died for her. She listened closely to what I explained and when I asked her if she would want to be forgiven with God inside her trusting in Jesus or thought something else she said she’d want to be forgiven. So I asked if when she was asking for forgiveness for her sins if she’d thought she was a pretty good person and based on her past record she thought she’d be forgiven. She nodded and said,, “Yeah,” scrunching her mouth in a frank affirmation. “Or were you thinking Jesus had died for you?” She said then that no she’d hoped she was good enough. So I offered her the prayer and she prayed it quickly knowing she would have to run. I said she could keep the book and she said, “Awesome, Thank you.” I offered her a book and she said, “This is enough, thank you.” And walked 5 steps and disappeared into the classroom. Several students by now in the semester have said they have seen me around, so I think they are nominal Christians and wonder what I am talking with sternest about, so when they hear the Gospel they quickly respond realizing they are at a point in life to make a choice to believe the faith they were raised in, even if it was never properly expressed to them growing up.

McPaul, a guy who received Jesus earlier in the year and looks like Malcolm-Jamal Warner, was sitting on the edge of the lounge where we have Bible Study with a couple friends in overstuffed chairs. McPaul asked me about Bible study and I said at the last one we’d had last week we talked about the parable of the Talents.  I explained it taught about faith. That everyone had faith but some people had not taken their faith and trusted in Christ to do things with God’s help in the world. They buried their faith never trusting in God. I jumped off that to ask the other two guys sitting with McPaul what they would say to get into Heaven. He encouraged them to talk with me, as he had before, and I began to go through the Gospel with Kalen, a tall thin black guy with torn skinny back jeans and a horizontal stripped shirt. He has some facial hair and a narrow face and a short afro. He was friendly and open but not really sure about his faith. In the end he took The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet  from me and the gospel to think about. His friend Tionne (Tee On) received Christ however after hearing the Gospel. He was a bit shorter and medium build, He had some facial hair chin and air and an afro that went straight up and had a rough top. He wore a t-shirt that said USA and had red shorts on, classic African-American features. Kalen hadn’t known what he’d say to get into Heaven but Tionne had said basically he was a good person and went to church. He asked, as I was going through the Gospel, if Jesus had died for our sins (something he had not remembered): Why go to Church and confess your sins? I said you go there so you can get preached up and know how to live, what to ask God to change you into. Confession shows God we are genuinely sorry and know we need a savior. In the end he decided he needed to receive Christ and prayed to receive Him. I gave him a Bible putting his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front which he liked, I showed him the “Where to Turn” section in the back that answers some issues with Bible Verses. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do saying he should ask for God to give him strength through the Spirit to do everything in the Christian life and I wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I left them and was off in Starbucks writing down their descriptions and then passing them by again as I left the lounge I asked them what the answer was as to Why God should let them into Heaven and the all responded, “Jesus died on the Cross.” Kalen seemed happy and  thanked me then as I walked off. And so I am hopeful he will think about the Gospel.

So Thanks for your prayers for eh Ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry if you had a chance today. Sandra & Monsieur each prayed with me to receive Jesus today so that was great.

Sandra was wearing a pink Peasant style short sleeve blouse and blue jeans. She had long blonde hair parted a bit to her left and then zagging back toward center. She had those beauty mark freckles some peeps have, really pretty girl in kind of country girl kind of way. When I first asked her if she wanted to do a survey she said she’d already done one but would do another. (As a side note: there have been over 15 students who did not want to do a survey from a Bible study group because they’d already done one that did not present the gospel. Doing these kind of surveys as another group on campus does, keeps students from hearing the Gospel later from me, often. Paul says of his own work in Acts 20:26 “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of everyone’s blood, 27 for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole plan of God.” If we do things that keep people from hearing the Gospel we are responsible for their blood.) When I asked Sandra what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said,” Well, because when I look at others I do not treat them [differently] one person better than the others, everyone’s equal.” She thought she had an 85% chance of going to Heaven and knew Jesus had died for her. She attended a Roman Catholic Church. She listened to the Gospel and affirmed the points I made, knowing Jesus had died. “You should be a priest,” she said. “You make this so relatable.” I said, “I’m a pastor.” “I’ve thought before being a priest would organize everything for you but my wife does that and I wouldn’t want not to be married, I really like my wife, she’s really nice to me.” She accepted that as a good reasoning. So I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins trusting in Jesus to forgive her. She pointed with a long powder blue finger nail touching the circle that represented trusting in Christ. So I asked her if when she asked for forgiveness for her sins if she was hoping she was good enough to be forgiven or had really been trusting in Jesus. It was hard to help her understand what I meant. “I’d really say that I’m as far away from being a good person as I can be. (She meant far along at being a good person) People have abused my good nature for years.” Earlier in talking she seems to have an abusive parent and had had a bad boyfriend. I said that she was trying to live a Christian life on her own and I read the quote in the back of the booklet “Your walk with Christ depends on what you allow Him to do in and through you empowered by the Holy Spirit, not what you do…through your own self effort.” I said Christianity was living inside out by the Spirits power where first you become a good person by asking Him to change you and then you do good things. I said God could also give her the power to forgive the people who had hurt her which otherwise was almost impossible. I explained the prayer to her to receive Christ and she said “That’s right.” I encouraged her that if she receive Christ the Spirit could live inside her giving her strength to be good, not trusting in our own goodness. I encouraged her to pray when she said she had to go to class soon saying if she would I would pray for her each night until spring and one year after that asking God to give her strength to trust in Him. She decided to pray to receive Jesus. Please pray for her to seek God for the strength to forgive. I quickly gave her a Bible study then and said I had a book for her, “You’re going to give me a book!” she said enthusiastically. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do showing her the page on forgiveness and saying when I found it hard to forgive I asked God for a Spirit of forgiveness and for his power. I Wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and gave her a card with our numbers on it saying she could text Ellen or I a prayer request anytime. She stood to go as we were sitting at a table in the Cafeteria and reached over the table to shake my hand saying, “Nice to meet you. Thank you.” “Nice to meet you too,” I replied and she headed off. And seemed happy.

Monsieur was sitting in the MAC arts building lounge. He was a big burly black dude with a thick beard and mustache, wider nose, dark tanned skin. Had a nice smile though, kind face. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt and a ball cap with a company name on it. He went to a church that was Bible based every Sunday. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked why He should let him into Heaven, he said, “I would..” thought about this too… “I did right by everyone else and treated everyone like I wanted to be treated; I never held animosity toward myself.” He thought he had a 99% chance of going to Heaven. He knew Jesus had died for him and after I had gone through the Gospel with him I asked if he wanted to be forgiven or thought something else and he said something like “Yeah that one,” pointing at the right circle with God inside. So I said “When you asked God to forgive you before were you thinking I’m a pretty good person and go to church and based on my past record I think he’ll forgive me or were you thinking I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me?” The first one he said with a “caught me” kind of grin. So I said, “Would you want to be forgiven though, trusting in Jesus.”Yeah,” he replied. So I talked him through the prayer and said he could pray it right now and only God would hear, “Give it a shot?” I asked. “Out loud?” he asked holding the booklet. I said no just silently. And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. When he finished I said enthusiastically, “Your sins are forgiven man! And gave him a fist bump. I went on to explain the Christian life living by the Spirit. He had his own Bible and I encouraged him to read in the book of John and explained the fruit of the Spirit and living inside out. I told him I would be praying for him. I gave him a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I explained that now he was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness and the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. “Thanks so much,” he said sincerely. “God bless you man,” I said in return. “Best of luck to you,” he said and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed and bright 2 more peeps to Himself.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and life is good over by you. Jasmine prayed with me to receive Jesus and I was able to go through the Gospel with 7 students, 3 were solid Christians so I went through the Gospel with them to encourage them to share their faith, two were good seeds planted I hope. An agnostic who looked like a young Brad Pitt from a UCC church Michael.  He took The Case for Christianity Answer Book.  Sadhnan a woman from India heard the Gospel from me. She had been educated in India in a convent. She seemed moved and I gave her Bible Promises for You she thought she would like to read once in a while. She had two children but looked 18. Pretty with sharp features and freckles. I had a long apologetic discussion with Peter who prayed to Mary. He took my Email to ask me some things after when I refuted every reason he put forward for praying to Mary with common sense and the scripture. I felt for him but I think he was clinging pretty hard to the false hope of praying to Mary. The sad part is you have not really prayed at all as the Dead cannot hear us. So not only did she not forward your requests God never heard them as they were not spoken to him.

Jasmine was sitting alone in the PE lounge. She was in workout clothes, leggings and a zip up jacket and looked athletic but was not active in any sports at COD. She is a pretty, fair skinned African American girl with a small nose and pretty mouth and perfect smile right out of a magazine. Some people are blessed but it’s not an easy world to be a pretty girl in I imagine. Her hair was pulled up randomly by a colorful headband scarf. She was very nice to me (probably raise to be kind to old people) and had been to church growing up but had not been in a while. When I asked her what she would say to God if she died and He asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “Because I learned to forgive those people that at first I didn’t think I had.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. When I asked her what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away her sins she knew Jesus had died for her sins. I went through the rest of the Gospel with her explaining how Jesus had died in her place and his blood cleansed her, turned death into life, “So now you’re alive inside and God can live inside you.” “Ok I follow,” she said with some real joy.  I continued to go through the Gospel writing verses for her and explaining them and then I asked if she would like to be forgiven for her sins and she shook her head saying, “I would like to be forgiven.” So I said that if she’d want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus there was a prayer she could pray and talking her through it I read, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” “Yes it does.” she replied frankly. So I said she could pray it silently so only God would hear. We were alone at a table behind a big post so that worked well and she prayed to receive Jesus. I began to explain the Christian life to her. She said they had a bible but she did not have her own they just all kind of passed it around at her house. So I said I would give her a Bible. It had a box and she was thrilled to get a nice Bible saying, “Thank you, you just made my day!” I showed her the “Where to Turn” passage and told her Jesus’ words were in red, and messianic passages were listed and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and she liked that. I gave her a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “Just ask” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I explained that now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. I got up to leave and she reached across the table to shake my hand and said, “Thank you.” I said I would see her around maybe and she said with her pretty smile she’d remember I was the one who had made her day that one time. And I headed out glad.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God blessed.

In Him,

Bob